White-Out
by R2J9
Summary: A White-out is where its snowing so much you can't see a thing. That should be enough of a summary, PG-13 for language slips.
1. Default Chapter

**White-out**

Quick notes: I know less than nothing about medical terms and all those abbreviations they use on the show. I tried to avoid using any, and where I had to was just a guess, so please forgive any mistakes. 

Disclaimer: As far as the law is concerned, these characters do not belong to me.

***

The snow hadn't quite begun when Kovac entered the ER that night, and it blew in through the doors behind him. "Heads up!" Dr. Green shouted, and Kovac caught the ball before it could flatten his face. Another game of Rolling Chair Soccer was going on- Greene, Corday, Malucci, and Carter against all the nurses.

"Slow day?" Kovac asked, taking his coat off.

"Be quiet, you'll jinx it," Corday warned, chasing after the ball. Greene reached it first, but fell to the ground as Corday crashed into him. Malucci kicked it and just missed knocking over Weaver's pile of files. Even she was in a good mood- she merely glared at him rather than going into a crutch-waving rage.

"What's all this happy horse-shit?" Everyone froze as Romano stepped out of the elevator. "If no one is dying, I am sure there's plenty of paperwork to be done. Does no one keep track of the weather down here?"

"It's just a little snow," Corday started, but before she could go on Romano cut in, "Could I get a response from someone who BELONGS down here?"

"It's more wind than anything," Kovac said, "The radio said…"

"The radio lies," Romano jumped in, "Do you know why? Because if they had enough money to get a decent weather report, they'd be on television. No, it's not 'just a little snow' or 'more wind than anything,' it's turning into a blizzard. And blizzard equals busy e.r."

"Thank you Robert, I'll take it from here," Weaver said in an obvious attempt to be rid of him. She soon had the game cleaned up and everyone preparing for the inevitable disasters as Corday followed Romano back to the elevator.

"Oh no you don't," Romano said, getting in ahead of her, "You wanted to play, now you can pay. Stay down here unless I page you."

"But Robert…" 

"What's that Elizabeth? I can't hear you, the doors are closing." And shouted through the closed doors, moving upward, "Was I hearing a complaint?"

***

Back at the desk, Weaver shouted, "Malucci, stop staring out the window and make yourself useful!" Malucci just waved a hand dismissively at her, and she hobbled over to see what was so interesting. It was snowing heavily, but winter wasn't over so it shouldn't have been so surprising. "It's just snow," she said impatiently, "This is Chicago."

"I was just out there two minutes ago," Kovac said, appearing behind them, "It was only flurries. It must be coming in quick." The wind picked up, sending it swirling upwards as well as down.

"Think it'll be a whiteout?" Malucci asked.

"This late in the year? Not likely," Weaver said, leaving the window, "We would've had warnings about one by now. But this'll still cause a mess on the roads, so be ready!"

Commercials go here, maybe.

The first person to be wheeled in as a result of the storm wasn't from a car wreck, but a slip on ice followed by a possible heart attack. Weaver, Greene, and a flock of nurses ran alongside the gurney towards Trauma One while the paramedic shouted off stats.

"Sir, can you tell me your name?" Greene asked after listed the required tests and drugs. He counted off and they lifted him off the gurney and onto the table.

"I was just taking the dog out," the old man said, "Dumb bitch refuses to use the dog door."

"Well what happened?" 

"I slipped, nearly broke my goddamn neck. Really, I'm fine, those nosy neighbors don't know what they're talking about."

"We still need your name, sir," Weaver said as she hooked up the heart moniter. "Give him ten of lidocane," she said, watching the screen. It had only beeped a total of five times when it flatlined. "V-tach," she announced.

"Okay, give him an epi," Greene ordered, then turned to take the paddles from one of the nurses. "Charge to 100, clear!" One shock sent the moniter beeping again, but he didn't wake up.

"I'll take him up," Greene offered once they were satisfied they had given him enough drugs for the time being.

***

Meanwhile, Kovac was seeing another patient in curtains. A mother had brought her nine year old son in- he'd run outside to play in the snow, and an icicle had fallen on his face. There was a long gash down his cheek starting just below his eye. The kid was lucky it hadn't gotten _in _his eye. Kovac said as much, and the mother snapped, "Don't scare him!"

"I'm just saying he was lucky," Kovac said, looking up at her. She looked quite dishevelled- he guessed she had more kids at home.

"You know what my brother told me?" the boy asked as Kovac attempted to stitch his face, "He said icicles make the best murder weapon."

"Why's that?" Kovac asked.

"Cause there's no evidence left. It melts," he said with a grin.

"You're going to have to keep your face still, unless you'd like to look like Frankenstein," Kovac warned, and laughed when the kid asked, "Really?" with an eager grin.

"Not quite," he answered, "It's not too deep, but it would leave a mark if you're mother hadn't brought you in."

"I just hope I can get home," she said, "It really started blowing up when I got here."

"Well, you can hang out in the cafeteria until it calms down, I suppose," Kovac offered.

"Oh no, I'll be stuck here all night," she said, "It's just going to get worse. They've put out an official warning. It's supposed to get to be a few feet deep, and in a short amount of time.

"Sounds like I'm going to be busy."

***


	2. No better than blind

**White-Out**- by Brownie

Disclaimer: By legal laws I don't own these characters. 

Side note: It might not seem like it for the first two pieces of this chapter, but this _is_ the same story. So bear with me. And besides knowing nothing about medical terms, I also don't know a thing about helicopters. The one I use is a model of my own invention that does what it does for the conveniance of the story and putting the characters through hell.

***

"Piece of crap," the trucker mumbled, wiping fog off the front window. He was truly beginning to hate this job- what the hell was he doing in a snowstorm with a load of ice cream in the back? And in storms like this, driving an eighteen-wheeler was unpleasant, to say the least. Wiping the fog off the window didn't help much- all he could see was the taillights of the car in front of him. And the snow was making that more difficult every minute.

"I hate Chicago," he said to himself, "I wonder if Florida has any need for all this goddamned ice cream." He wiped the fog off again, and squinted throught the window, suddenly unable to see even the lights. Stopping would be no good- the people behind would crash into him. It wouldn't hurt the truck, but the last thing he needed were heads rolling- literally. But he couldn't see the road. When he was debating just what to do, he heard scraping down the right side of the truck, and figured it was the guardrails. While the metal-against-metal sound was painful, he guessed it would be better to stay in that posistion so he'd know where and when to turn. "Not my truck anyway." He went on for a few minutes like this, the screeching sound going straight up his spine. When it stopped just as suddenly as it had begun, he figured it had veered off further right, so he turned the truck slightly in hopes of finding it again. When he didin't, he turned sharper, and the front of the truck jumped.

"Dammit!" he shouted, figuring it was just the divider. He slammed on the brakes, but he'd been driving too fast- the truck leaped the divider and fell forwards off the bridge.

***

"Who takes a class trip in the winter anyway?" the bus driver asked irritably.

"It was only supposed to be flurries," the teacher said for the fifth time since the storm blew up. The kids had finally settled down. A busload of fourth and fifth graders was always an adventure, but even they knew when to be silent. He couldn't see a thing out the window, not even the front of the bus much less the taillights ahead. They were crawling along at a turtle's pace- what else could they do? He was squinting out the window looking for any lights or signs of life at all when the truck landed on top of them. It seemed as if the back of the bus were caving in, and it caused the front to lift off the ground. The crash of the huge truck was so loud that the driver couldn't hear a thing from the kids. As the truck slipped off the top and to the ground, the bus was tossed onto its left side. The driver thought it was over, but there was a series of smaller- but just as loud- crashed behind them. Cars. He counted about five before they stopped. He finally lifted his head to survey the damage. Broken glass had embedded itself in his left arm, but he was otherwise okay. The only lights left were the headlights of the truck, and they were at an angle that only reveal a few forms in the back of the bus. He heard a few of the children whimpering, a few even picked their heads up to peek around. But it was too few. He reached for the radio and wanted to sing when he found it still working. There wre many horror stories that could have been avoided if the radios had worked. "Dispatch? There's been an accident…."

***

"Corday and Carter will be going with you in the chopper," Weaver told the paramedics, "Are you sure it can take off in this?"

"We'll be fine," the pilot assured her, "It'll be a bumpy ride with all that wind, but we don't need to see, we can read the gauges." Weaver nodded and rushed the lot of them on their way. Ambulances were already bringing in vicitms of other car crashes. They were minor for the most part, but it kept them busy. How the paramedics drove in the storm was a mystery to her. Almost all the crashes had been the result of driving blind, yet the ambulances made it through. She guessed they had some high powered lights. But this crash that had just been called in was huge. A truck had jumped a bridge and landed on a schoolbus going down the highway. Unable to see it, more cars piled up behind. The danger was, more cars might be out there, complete idiots thinking they had the road memorized, and could crash into the mess. The paramedics would have to be very careful.

Weaver picked up another call, unrelated to the storm. Some kid had been playing too close to a fireplace and had second and third degree burns on her arm.

"Why don't they just put her out in the snow?" Malucci asked from behind her. Always the smart-ass.

"Shut up, they'll be here in three minutes," she said, glaring daggers at him.

"Of course chief," he said, "Ready as usual." And Weaver wished she had a nice, big frying pan in her hands.

***

Carter gripped the side of his seat so hard his knuckles turned white. He glanced at Corday, who seemed a little green. The chopper had been bumpy on previous trips, but this was ludicrous. It felt like they were being tossed around. More than once they had tilted at a sharp angle, sending the junk on the floor crashing against the sides.

"We're almost there, Dr. Carter," one of the two paramedics said, seeing his worryed glances. The pilot's angry muttering didn't have her any more at ease than the two doctors. Carter just nodded. He looked out the window and saw only swirling white. How could the pilot know where to go?

"I'm not landing in this," the pilot spoke up suddenly, "I'll let the four of you down, and you can radio me when you need a lift."

"How will we find you?" Corday asked.

"I won't move, and I'll leave the anchor down. You'll find it."

And so Carter found himself dangling in midair, no better than blind. He worried that he was moving down too quickly, which would have been true any other day, but he landed in half a foot of snow. He quickly unhooked his harness, and helped Corday out of hers when she landed. They waited for the two paramedics and headed in the direction of the high-powered flashlights. Carter himself carried one, and led them towards the mess.

"Are you the doctors?" a figure asked as they approached. A cop, probably. Carter could just make out the front of the overturned bus.

"Yea," he answered, "What do you have?"

"A shitload of minors, broken bones and such, and three majors, but we haven't approached the cars yet. We had another crash just before you arrived." They stood before the bus now, where the door, which was now on top, was wide open. Carter climbed up and turned to pull Corday up behind him.

"They'll all have frostbite if we don't get them out of here," she said, dropping into the bus. The driver greeted them first. "Are you okay sir?" Corday asked.

"I'm fine, it's just a little glass. One of the kids in the back are stuck."

"I'll take care of it," Carter said to Corday, "Have them show you the other two majors." She continued speaking to the driver as he made his way to the back of the bus. Most of the kids sat huddled together in the middle around their teacher, who was trying to keep them quiet.

"Everything okay here?" he asked.

"Nothing that can't wait," the teacher said, "The little girl in the back needs help, um, her name's Lani."

"Thanks," Carter said, "I'll have this group taken care of as soon as possible." He finally reached the kid- another paramedic was with her. It looked as if the top of the bus- now on the right- had caved in. It was a miracle it hadn't gone down further than it had. As it was, it was almost touching the tops of the seats. The girl was lying down on her side. "What do we have?" Carter asked.

"Her arm is pinned under the bus," the paramedic said, "Must have gone out the window before it landed. I have her a local, but it won't last long."

"Right," Carter said, tossing his bag to the ground, "There's morphine in there, give her .5 for now." He turned to the little girl. Her dark pigtails were in disarray, and her blue eyes flashed up at him. She couldn't have been older than ten. "I'm Dr. Carter," he told her, "What's your name?"

"Lani Holland," she said, teeth chattering, "It's cold in here."

"I know," Carter said, pulling a blanket out of his bag. "This should help. He pulled it around her shoulders, then knelt down to get a look at the arm. The bus had it pinned between the elbow and shoulder. The paramedic had already ripped her sleeves away from the area. The skin was broken, but the pressure of the bus was keeping it from bleeding at all. "She's not in any immediate danger," Carter said, "She's not bleeding much. But if we don't get her out soon, she'll lose the arm to the cold."

The paramedic nodded. "We wouldn't have to move the bus much. She's small enough that a bunch of us could just shove the bus from the outside and you could pull her out."

"This is a school bus, not a car," Carter said, "You'd need a hell of a lot of people, and even then…."

"People can be surprising in an emergency. Even you should know that, Dr. Carter," he said, "Besides, it's worth a try. What's the worst that could happen?"

"Never ask that," Carter said, "What do you think Lani? Should they try to tilt the bus?"

"I don't want to lose my arm," she said, eyes wide.

"You won't," Carter assured her, then to the paramedic, "See how many people you can gather, then get back to me." The guy nodded and hurried out the bus. Carter turned back to the kid.

"How's your arm feel?" he asked.

"Cold," she said, "He gave me a shot so it doesn't hurt any more."

"Dr. Carter?" a voice shouted from the front of the bus. Yet another paramedic came jogging towards him. "Dr. Corday sent for you. I'll stay with the girl."

"Right," Carter said, "Come get me if there's any trouble."

"You're leaving?" Lani asked.

"More people need help," he said, "I'll be back to check on you, don't worry." And he ran off to find Corday.


	3. Ambulances

**White-Out** by Brownie

Disclaimer: We're just going to pretend these characters are mine for the time being.

Side Note: Any medical term mistakes I make are because of my lack of knowledge, so if you know enough to enlighten me on the subject, go right ahead. 

***

Corday had found the other criticals. One had died before she even got there. The guy who had been driving the truck, they'd said. The other was on the way to County in an ambulance. The pilot of the chopper had said that once he got back to County, he wasn't going back out. And he might be forced to leave soon, the wind was so bad.

She had reached the first of the cars when she sent for Carter. There were four people and a dog in the car. The dog was the only one unharmed. The two in the back seat had climbed out, one with a dislocated shoulder, and the other covered in broken glass. The two in the front had obvious head injuries and were unconscious. She quickly explained the situation to Carter when he arrived as the paramedics were pulling them out of the car. She could barely see them through the snow.

"Send them on the chopper!" Carter shouted over the howling of the wind, "If he's leaving soon anyway, he might as well be of some use."

"One of us will have to go with them, but we wouldn't be able to get back," she replied.

"You go," he said, "You know more about head injuries than I do. And you're turning into a icicle." Corday nodded reluctantly. Normally she'd give him a hard time, but he was right. She was more knowledgable of head injuries than him. "Fine, help me load them," she said. The paramedics had them on backboards on the ground, snow piling up around them.

"They both have pulses!" one of the paramedics shouted, "But they aren't breathing too good."

"We're taking them to the chopper!" Corday shouted, "Pick them up and move!" She turned to Carter, who was talking with a cop. "Carter, let's go!"

"They need me for something else!" he shouted back, "Can you take care of it?" She nodded and he ran off, disappearing into the snow.

"Dr. Corday? We'd better get moving!" someone shouted.

"Yes, this way!" she said, grabbing a flashlight, and led them off, blind leading the blind.

***

The ambulances were finally forced to stop. Greene sat in the cafeteria with his coffee as the paramedics milled around, not knowing what to do with themselves. The only ones left out there were at the big accident where Carter and Corday had been sent. The few people in the e.r. were being taken care of, so Greene was free for the moment. He was supposed to have left an hour ago, but he wasn't about to drive home in this. Especially after all the accidents they'd seen….. His pager suddenly went off, so he took a last quick chug of his coffee before dashing back to the e.r.

"Dr. Greene, we have everything from the accident coming in all at once," Abby said, catching up to him.

"All at once?" he asked.

"Yes, Carter's fault. They can't see a thing out there to treat patients, so they're all being put on backboards and rushed here as soon as possible. Dr. Corday's already on her way here in the chopper." He reached Weaver at the desk, who was waving her crutch angrily at Malucci.

"What's going on?" Greene asked.

"Snowballs!" Weaver exclaimed, "Doctors are supposed to be educated, and he brings in snowballs!"

"Dr. Greene, it wasn't that bad," Malucci said, "There were a bunch of little kids, they looked bored. Dr. Greene, she threatened to revoke my title!"

"Someone slipped and nearly fractured their skill!" Weaver shouted.

"It was just a little bump!" Malucci retorted, shrinking away from her. Greene shook his head. They were always arguing about something.

"When is the marathon going to arrive?" Greene asked, averting their attention.

"As soon as Carter gets some little girl out from under a bus," Weaver said.

"How long?" Greene asked.

"Twenty minutes, maybe," Weaver answered, "Unless there's another disaster."

"Or Carter grows a brain and does his job _there_," Malucci said under his breath. "What?" he asked when they all glared at him.

"How many majors?" Greene asked, turning back to Weaver.

"The two with Corday, and Carter found four more besides the kid, three of which will be sent to Mercy."

"So we have four coming in,"

"Benton's on call upstairs," Weaver went on, "It isn't as if we've never been very busy."

***

"I have to land this thing!" the pilot shouted.

"You can't! We have to get them to County, now!" Corday shouted. One of the victims had woken up, but Corday had been using the defibrilator on the other for five minutes. Onlyh one paramedic was accompanying her.

"I'm sorry!" the pilot yelled, "The storm's too bad! Just hold on!" Corday exchanged a look with the paramedic- this was insanity!- and quickly buckled herself in before continuing defibrilation.

"We aren't going to make it, are we?" the woman asked. She had been watching in horror as Corday shocked the other victim- her husband- even since she'd woken up.

"We'll be fine," Corday assured her. The woman seemed fine, but Corday wasn't taking any chances, and left her strapped to the board.

"What about my husband?" she asked.

"I don't know," Corday admitted. His heart started again, but was weak. They all shouted in surprise as the chopper gave a great shudder and landed. Corday was about to get up when it tilted. "What is this?" she asked the pilot.

"I don't know! Roof, bridge, could be anything!" he shouted back, "Don't move! I'll come back there!" And as he got up, it tipped a bit further.

***

"Are you ready?" Carter asked. Lani nodded nervously. He shouted out the window, "Go ahead!" A line of people stood outside the bus- paramedics, police, even random people who hadn't been injured in the car wreck. At Carter's word, they all started pushing on the bus. The slightest tilt would free Lani's arm enough for Carter to pull it out, but it would take a hell of a lot of luck.

The bus did move- it shook a bit, and creaked as its weight shifted. It just wasn't enough. Pull on her arm as he might, is was still pinned. Someone outside shouted, and Carter heard people running around.

"What's happening?" he asked.

"Car jacks," someone shouted back, "Just two seconds, we'll try again." Sure enough, the creaking resumed, then it actually seemed to be bouncing as the car jacks pushed it up. How they managed in the deep snow was beyond Carter's imagination. He started pulling again, ignoring Lani's cries. She'd thank him when the arm stayed attatched.

"Just a little further!" he yelled, realizing it was coming loose. Sure enough, he was able to pull her free. "Got it!" he yelled, picking her up. He rushed out to the line of waiting cop cars and ambulances- absolutely eveyone was leaving the site for either County or Mercy. Carter climbed into the back of one of the ambulances just as all the sirens went off, and what seemed like a mad race for the hospitals began.

***

"Malucci, get moving!" Weaver shouted. Kovac was already jogging towards the doors- he could hear the sirens in the distance. Greene joined him, but continued to pace nervously.

"Elizabeth should have been back by now," he said, "They weren't that far away."

"I'm sure she's fine," Kovac assured him. But it was taking more time than it should have. The chopper had left long before the ambulances, and now they were arriving.

"How many?" Malucci called from behind them.

"Four ambulances, carrying two major and a shitload of minors," Weaver said, pushing the doors open. Snow blew inside, but she left them like that. The ambulances were pulling up. Kovac ran out to meet the first one, Greene to meet the second, but when the third arrived, it didn't stop. Kovac was unloading patients when he heard the crash. He watched in horror as it actually entered the e.r., but couldn't see anything beyond that. He could hear the people inside shouting in surprise, then the silence when it finally stopped.

"Stay in there!" he shouted to the people in his ambulance, and set off after Greene to see the damage. He knew there was trouble when he heard Weaver shout, "Get a gurney!" with a touch of panic in her voice. He entered to find Carter climbing out the back of the thing, looking a bit shocked. He had been accompanying the two majors. Greene was helping him get them out.

"Page Benton and Romano!" Weaver shouted to the nurses, "And get this damned thing backed up!" Kovac went around to where she was standing, towards the front of the ambulance. He was about to ask if anyone had been hit when he caught sight of Malucci. Apparently the ambulance had slammed right into him, so he was pinned up against the wall. And judging by the cracks in the wall that the whole crash had caused….

"Luka, tell them to back up NOW!" Weaver yelled.

"Carter isn't done unloading yet," Kovac said. Malucci groaned, and his eyes rolled to the side. "Go get some morphine," he said to Weaver, "I'll see if I can get them moving quicker." Weaver glared at him- no one told Festus what to do- and hobbled off as fast as she could.

"Dave, can you hear me?" Kovac asked.

"I can't breath," Malucci answered through clenched teeth.

"What the hell…." Kovac turned to find Carter behind him, pausing with his gurney. The little girl on it was crying.

"Is everyone out?" Kovac asked.

"Yea," Carter said, looking torn, "You want me to…"

"Take care of the kid, Carter," Kovac cut him off. Carter glanced at Malucci again before taking off down the hall. Weaver finally returned with a gurney, a pile of supplies in the middle of it.

"We'll start an IV here," she said, "Why the hell aren't they moving?"

"The driver…" Kovac said, finally looking up at the window. It was cracked and had blood all over it.

Weaver looked around the scene quickly, and finally grabbed two people who were standing by their sleeves. "I need one of you to go get another gurney and bring it back here, _fast_. And I need the other to back this ambulance out. Now." The first went running off, obviously frightened to dare disobey the little bitch with the crutch. Kovac had just finished setting up the IV when Weaver grabbed away the gurney.

"Luka, help me with this guy!" she shouted, pulling the door oepn. He ran around the other side and got in.

"He's got a fractured skull," he called to her, "Should I get Benton?"

"Benton's already in Trauma two, Carter's in one," Weaver said, "Unless Greene's treating some dire emergency, drag him out by his nose." Kovac quickly helped Weaver get the man onto the gurney, then bolted to admit.

"Jerry, where's Dr. Greene?" he asked.

"Um, leg fracture in three," the fat man said, "Should I page him?" But Kovac had already taken off again.

"Mark, can this wait? We've got a skull fracture, and Malucci…"

"What about him?" Greene asked, following him to the scene.

"We can't diagnose until we get him out from behind the ambulance."

"God, I ran right by there, why didn't I see him?" Greene asked.

"Because you're missing half your brain," Romano said, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, "Why was I paged? Too busy down here for what seems to be the _entire_ staff? Holy shit, who did this?" They had reached the ambulance- obviously Romano had missed what Kovac had said. "Since when do paramedics drive drunk?"

"Can it, Robert!" Weaver snapped, "We're out two doctors and we just gained two majors."

"Elizabeth isn't back yet?" he asked, "When did you last hear from her?"

"Twenty-five minutes and counting," Weaver said.

Romano was silent for a moment, then said, "I'll run the skull fracture up to OR now. Greene, you take Malucci, and Kovac is on call between rooms." He got at the head of the gurney and pushed the guy towards the elevator while simultaneously setting up an IV. Weaver sighed in relief when one of the nurses showed up to help him.

"What are you looking at?" Weaver shouted to the poor fool she'd tossed into the driver's seat, "Back this thing out of here!" They guy turned the engine on, which wasn't a problem, but shifting into reverse moved its weight around. Malucci threw his head back with a shout, which was cut off when it slammed against the wall. The ambulance back up, and he fell unconscious to the floor.

***Hmmm, how long shall I leave you hanging here? Evil snicker***


	4. A tree

**White-Out**- by Brownie

Disclaimer: These characters are mine until the story is over, and you can't have them back until then!

Side Notes: Sorry for being so slow, and sorry that it's a bit short, and sorry that you don't get to find out what happens to Malucci yet, but you want to know what happens to Corday, don't you? Anyone?

***

"A tree? You landed us in a bloody TREE?"

"I'm sorry," the pilot said sheepishly, "I'd like to see you try to fly in this." Corday sighed in disgust. She supposed it was better than tipping off a building, but they could still be pretty high up. The radio had been beeping every two minutes, but no one dared moving to answer it. 

"Are we going to die up here?" the woman asked, "I mean, if this doesn't fall, won't we all freeze?"

"More'n likely," the paramedic grumbled.

"Don't be so pessimistic," Corday said, "Try and think of something."

"I didn't write my will out," he said regretfully.

Corday turned back to the pilot. "How tall can trees be in Chicago anyway? Can't we climb out?"

"And have the chopper land on us?" he asked, "Brilliant idea, doc."

"Well you said before that the wind may blow it over anyway! We could at least take a chance!" Although she knew damned well that even if they got out, they wouldn't know where to go. Or how to carry the two people on the boards. She sighed again. "We're royally screwed, aren't we?" It wasn't a question.

"Well, as long as you're seeing things our way," the pilot said obnoxiously.

"What about my husband?" the woman asked.

"Well, he's breathing again," Corday said, "But I don't think he'll stay like that for long. He has to get to a hospital, quickly."

"Not much chance of that," the pilot grumbled.

"If it weren't so dangerous to move, I'd slap you," Corday said, just as it began rocking in the wind again.

"Looks like thinking it was enough," the pilot said, "Everyone hold onto something." The whole thing was tipping further as the wind picked up more violently. The boards started to slide across the floor. Corday instinctively reached out to stop them, but her movement added just enough force to break the chopper loose. Everyone went crashing to the side as it fell, along with all the medical equipment and God-only-knew what else. It hit the ground quickly- they hadn't been all that high up- sending glass flying and breaking all the lights. With the windows now gone, there was almost no protection from the snow.

Corday slowly lifted her head once it was silent. With the lights gone and the snow swirling about, she could see almost nothing. "Is everyone okay?" Corday called into the darkness. She heard a high-pitched beep from somewhere, and it took her a moment to realize a moniter was flatlining.

"Dr. Corday?" the paramedic called, "The guy's heart stopped, can you get to him?"

"I can't see a thing!" she yelled, "Shock him until I get there!"

"With all this snow, I'd electricute us both!"

"Then do CPR!" she yelled back, forcing herself to her feet.

"I can't! There's blood everywhere, and my hands are a mess."

"What about the pilot?" Corday asked, "Can he do it?"

"No the pilot can't do it," the pilot spoke up from another direction, "The pilot is too far away, and can't see a thing, and isn't very happy about his situation."

"Can't someone do something?" the woman asked near Corday's feet. She could barely make out her head.

"We're running out of options," Corday told her. She carefully started making her way to the location of the moniter, knowing she could do almost nothing at this point anyway.

"It's asystole," the paramedic said quietly when she reached him so the woman wouldn't hear, "Do you want to call it?"

She sighed in defeat and lit up her watch. "Time of death- 11:24." The paramedic switched off the moniter.

"So is that it?" the woman called, "You just let him die?"

"We didn't just let him," Corday said, "His injuries were too great, and the crash finished it off. I'm sorry, but there was nothing we could do." They were silent for a moment before the woman spoke up again.

"Well now what? Are we going to freeze here?"

"No," the pilot called from somewhere in the distance, and a light flashed in Corday's eyes. "Flashlight didn't break. We can walk from here." 

"She can't walk," Corday said, "We'll have to carry her." The pilot finally reached the group, and the flashlight was bright enough for her to see everyone. They all had cuts from the broken glass- the pilot pointed out one that uncomfortably close to her eye- but no real damage had been done. The paramedic's hands both had quite an amount of glass embedded in them. Pulling it all out would take too long there, so he carefully wrapped them in gauze from Corday's bag and insisted on helping her and the pilot carry the board. The woman held the flashlight up for them, and the pilot stood in the front, leading the way through about a foot and a half of snow.

***

Benton was working on an almost-severed limb when he spotted Greene pulling a gurney into the room next to him. He nearly dropped his instruments when he saw that it was Malucci on the thin. "What the hell happened?" he asked no on in particular.

"He got hit when the ambulance crashed," Kovac said, opening the door, "You have a handle on everything in here?" Benton looked down at the leg he was attempting to put back together at the knee, while at the same time trying to stop the bleedin from a gash that had sliced the major artery in the thigh.

"An extra hand'd be nice if you have a minute," Benton said. The nurses hurridly gloved and goggled Kovac, and Benton had him hold the artery shut while he himself worked on the knee. The phone rang before he had accomplished anything, and the next thing he knew, Haleh was shoving the phone in his face.

"It's Weaver," she said.

"Peter, are you almost done over there?" Weaver shouted into his ear.

"I haven't even begun," he said, "This is going to be a while."

"Can't you send him up to OR?" she asked.

"Not yet," Benton said, "I'll send Kovac over if you really need help, but I can't leave."

"Send him," Weaver demanded.

"But…"

"Now, Peter!" And the phone slammed down. Benton looked through the window to see what was happening. He couldn't see Malucci- too many nurses blocked the way- but the moniters were beeping wildly. He turned back to his patient just as Mark was pulling out the sternum saw.

"Weaver called for you," he told Kovac.

"What about…"

"Don't argue!" Kovac tossed his gloves and bolted into the next room. And only then did Benton realize that Corday hadn't returned.


	5. This chapter not worthy of a title

White-Out

**White-Out **by Brownie

Disclaimer: These characters are mine now, and I'm holding them for a hefty ransom.

Side-notes: Please pardon me for taking so long. You see, there's school, and I have to be educated. God forbid I don't know the laws of physics. Anyhow, once again forgive my lack of medical knowledge and so on and so on.

***

Carter was having a bit of trouble working on the girl's arm for a number of reasons- his fingers were still numb from the cold, he was worried about Corday, and was perplexed about what the hell had gone wrong back there? The driver had seemed fine the whole way to the hospital, what had happened? It never occurred to Carter that maybe they just couldn't see a thing ahead of them. He kept peeking down the hall out of curiousity, wondering how Malucci was. When Carter had passed him by, he hadn't looked too good, but not exactly on the brink of death either. 

Carter had finally finished what he was doing when Corday bursted into the ER, pilot helping her carry a backboard, paramedic keeping it balanced towards the end of the thing with his fingers. The way his hands were wrapped up, Carter wondered what the hell the guy thought he was doing, but someone had to get the back end, so he was doing what he could. Carter vaguely wondered where her other patient was when the nurse in the room called his attention back.

"Are you going to send her up now or what?" she asked.

"Yea," Carter said, "Would you bring her?" The nurse nodded and rolled her off towards the elevators. He walked towards Corday as she shouted off statistics to the nurses.

"You're late," he said, "What happened?"

"Landed in a tree," she said, teeth chattering, "What happened in here, it looks like hell broke loose."

"It did," Carter told her, "Ambulance came crashing in, flattened Malucci against the wall."

"You're kidding," Corday said, eyes wide, "Is he okay?"

"Should be, but I really can't tell you now, Greene has him," Carter said, "You want me to take care of this? You look like you're freezing." 

She considered this for a few seconds, then said, "Just take care of her until I can feel my hands, and then I'll take over." With that, Carter pushed the gurney into the room he'd just left, where the nurses weren't quite finished cleaning up yet. The patient's moniters looked good, but you could never be too careful with a head injury.

"Can you feel your hands and feet?" Carter asked.

"Barely," the patient said, "They're freezing."

"We'll be taking care of that in a minute," Carter said, "Can you move them?"

"Yes," she said. 

Once Carter was satisfied that all her limbs and organs were working, he said, "Well, it looks like you're going to be okay. You didn't break anything, at least. You have a concussion, though, so we'll have to keep you overnight." He was just about to send her up when Corday arrived.

"How's she look?" she asked, pulling on a pair of gloves.

"Everything seems fine," Carter told her, "I'll have them run a few tests upstairs, but it looks like it's just a concussion."

"Well that's a relief," Corday said as the nurses wheeled the woman out to the elevators, "Her husband didn't make it."

"What happened?" Carter asked, "You were in the chopper, you should have gotten here long before me."

"Chopper landed in a tree," Corday said, "We were afraid to move, but the wind knocked it out anyway. So we walked the rest of the way. We're all fine, but my pager's broken. I'm sure Robert's pissed."

"Quite," Carter said, chuckling, "You might want to let Mark know you're okay before you go up, though. From what I heard he spent about twenty minutes pacing before the ambulances arrived." Corday laughed, then left to find him.

***

Dr. Greene wasn't thinking about Corday much at the moment- the moniters all around him were making enough noise to be heard down the hallway. They had Kovac back in the room for about five minutes before Benton demanded they send him back, because he seemed to have "run out of hands." Weaver had called Kovac over before when she realized they were going to have to open Malucci's ribcage- there was bleeding around his heart, among other things. Weaver was in there now with the defibrilators. The only thing that came to mind when Greene saw what had happened was a _mess_. He didn't know ribs could shatter like that.

"Charge to two-hundred," Weaver shouted, "Clear!" Second try. The moniters beeped rythmically again. Finally, an improvement. "Mark, did you find the source yet?" There was a hell of a lot of blood.

"Somewhere in the left lung," he said, "Can I get some suction over here?" An area was cleared, and Greene realized that the lung was also filling with blood. "Dammit, we have to get him up to OR, now."

"They're a bit backed up…" Weaver started, then swung the door of the room open. 

"What is it?" Greene asked.

"Corday's back," she said, flagging her down in the hall, "Elizabeth! Are you okay?"

"Just fine, Kerry, thank you," Corday said, rushing into the room, "Do you need help?"

"Bleeding around the heart and left lung," Greene said, looking at her face to be sure that she was alright. Besides a cut that was almost hidden by her goggles, she seemed just fine.

She took one quick look at the mess and said, "Okay, I'm bringing him up now, it can't wait any longer. Is Anspaugh up there?"

"He's there, but he might be busy," Weaver said, positioning herself at the head of the gurney. In a matter of seconds, Greene found himself standing in the room alone. He sighed in relief- he'd been thinking the worst, that the chopper had crashed somewhere, and they'd never be able to find it under the snow, and when it finally was found that it would have been too late.

Then his thoughts changed to Malucci. It wasn't looking all that great for him, but if Corday worked quick enough, and if they got lucky and Anspaugh was able to help her, maybe it would be okay. He looked through the window into the other room, and Kovac looked back at him, eyebrows raised questioningly. Greene could only shrug. Then he left to start on the myriad of minors waiting out in chairs. 

***

"Elizabeth, good to see you back," Romano said as the elevator doors opened. He had just finished with the head injury- the guy would probably be a vegetable, but he'd live- and had been waiting for them to drag that poor fool Malucci up and beg for his help.

"Where's Anspaugh?" Corday asked immediately as Romano took a posistion pushing the gurney towards an open room.

"Tied up," Romano said, "Lucky for you all, I just finished."

"So you'll be helping?" she asked. He wouldn't have been surprised to see her turn green by the sound of her voice. He seemed to have that effect on people.

"Yes I shall," he said, turning into the empty room where some attendants and nurses were waiting. When they pulled back the material covering Malucci's chest, Romano said, "Whoa, remind never to get in the way of a moving ambulance." The look on Corday's face said that she wished to push him in front of one. "So what's the story in here?" He listened patiently as Corday spouted off the statistics, which he could read perfectly well off the moniters, and told him that they hadn't found where all the blood was coming from yet.

"Well then, shall we get started?" Romano asked, pulling on his surgical mask, "I shudder to think how boring Weaver's life would be without Malucci down there to annoy the crap out of her, don't you Elizabeth? I guess we'll just have to save this one."

"Don't do us any favors," Corday said sarcastically, and Romano smirked.

***

~ Almost finished! Patience, people. (Hey, only doctors have patients.) Geez, I feel like I'm dragging this out. It's about time for an ending. Be happy, I won't be taking too long with the rest of this, I have this week off. Give it another day or two. Unless you _enjoy_ the suspense… hehe.


End file.
